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Monday, 26 November 2012

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas... all the stores have their Christmas displays on, the lights are bright and sparkly, and the Christmas trees are beginning to appear. Not in our house though, seeing as we still have a couple of birthdays to celebrate first, eeps. December is always an expensive month for me, with Aditi turning five this year and Kay... well, lets not go there :)But the one thing that really puts me in the mood for Christmas is this delicious recipe for homemade Irish cream liqueur from Kay's dad, affectionately referred to as 'Grandpa's Hooch'. Come Christmas, FIL makes up batches of this recipe for friends, and its a lovely tradition that I follow every year at Christmas (er, and a few times in between...). And indulge is definitely the right word here... this is not for the
calorie counters. Its choc-a-bloc with cream, condensed milk and of
course, the staple Irish whiskey. Its very reminiscent of Bailey's, but
with a kick of its own that makes it pretty unique, and in my humble opinion, even better than Baileys. While I still have to wait for Christmas to make up my big batch and I was getting way too impatient, so I whipped up a small batch and its mellowing in the fridge, as we speak. Its really good on its own, over ice or in coffee. A warning though, it goes down deceptively smoothly, and so its easy to forget that its got a good chunk of alcohol in it, so do enjoy responsibly :-)This recipe uses raw eggs, so you may want to use pasteurised eggs, if you wish. It will keep in the fridge for up to a week, although I highly doubt that it will last that long.

Recipe: (Printable Recipe)1 tin (300ml) sweetened condensed milk1 cup (250 ml) coffee cream (18% cream, or single cream)3 eggs1 cup (250 ml) Irish whiskey (I used Jameson's)1 tbsp chocolate syrup1 - 2 drops coconut essence or extract (or you can use 2 drops of almond extract)Method: Blend together the ingredients until well mixed. Ideally, refrigerate for a day to let the cream mellow, but its pretty good on the day as well. Shake well before pouring out. Serve neat over ice or in fresh black coffee.Yes, its really that easy :-)*I am not sure where FIL got the recipe from, as he's been making this for several years now. But it seems to be a a fairly standard one with a few variations here and there.

Hi, I'm your newest follower! I love your Irish cream, it looks yummy! I'm going to make it soon Mimi... hey...we have to live a little dangerously!I'm inviting you to visit me at Kathleen's for the St. Pat's tables, although I'm not Irish, I'm a girl from Astoria-Queens and grew up with Irish-Italians in my neighborhood, (now Greek) and Catholic, so here goes my love for St. Pat's.Have a wonderful St's Patty.FABBY

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